


A New Perfect

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Time, Het, Rare Pair, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 03:53:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4904539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Barry stands up Caitlin on a night out, Joe proves a more than able stand in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Been tinkering with this for ages and finally posting it now... therefore AU for the midpoint of season one, ie Barry and Linda are an item.

"Caitlin!" Joe looked surprised when he opened the front door but he covered it up quickly, features morphing into a smile. "What brings you by?"

He stepped back to let her in and she looked up at him curiously as she passed him. "I'm here to pick up Barry," she said. "He's convinced me to go out tonight." She was aware she didn't sound entirely enthusiastic, but her enthusiasm was inversely proportional to the amount of effort it had taken Barry to convince her in the first place. 

Joe's frown deepened as he looked towards the stairs. "He's not here," he told her, a crooked grin crossing his lips. "Though knowing Barry, that's no surprise..."

She smiled at the shared joke. "Was he always late for everything?" she asked and Joe's laugh was all the answer she needed. 

"Call him, see where he's at," Joe suggested, waving a hand in the direction of the couch. "I'll just be a minute..." He gestured towards the kitchen. "Dinner's almost ready... actually, tell him that, it'll be extra incentive."

She nodded, pulling out her cell phone and dialling Barry's number. It took him a while to answer it and when he did, he sounded flustered. "Caitlin, what's up?"

"Hey, I'm at your place and you're late." She kept her voice bright but with just enough edge that he'd know she wasn't entirely impressed. "Where are you?"

There was a terrible pause. "That was tonight?" 

The penny dropped, along with Caitlin's jaw and she tilted her head towards the ceiling. "You're with Linda." It wasn't a question. 

"I completely forgot, Caitlin, I'm so sorry..." He sounded mortified and Caitlin moved quickly to put him out of his misery. 

"It's fine... enjoy yourself." She meant it too, because one of them should have a nice evening. She couldn't resist adding, "Just remember you owe me."

Barry chuckled. "Always do."

She smiled fondly as she hung up, putting the phone back into her ridiculously impractical but very cute handbag, sighing as she caught sight of herself in the mirror, hair done, make up flawless, dress not the sparkly black affair of a different night out with Barry, tonight erring - she hoped - on just the right side of flashy. She'd gone all out on her appearance, hoping the effort would make her feel more like partying. It had worked pretty well too and she found herself curiously disappointed that it was all for naught. 

"Hey, you get through?" Joe appeared, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. "Where is he?"

"With Linda." Caitlin put her best game face on, gave him a rueful smile and Joe's jaw went slack. 

"Really? He didn't ask my opinion on a dozen different outfits before he left." 

Caitlin raised her shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. "Looks like I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go," she quipped, shaking her head. "Men." A pause where she noticed his wide eyes, his hand to his chest in what she hoped was mock hurt. "Present company excepted."

He inclined his head in thanks before glancing towards the kitchen. "Have you eaten?" he asked and as if in response her stomach let out a loud growl. They both laughed, his amused, hers embarrassed. "I'll take that as a no."

"We didn't have firm plans," she explained. "We were either having dinner then going to a bar or just going straight to the bar and eating there..." It was the smell from the kitchen, she decided, that was making her hungry - whatever Joe's dinner was, it smelled delicious. 

"So that's a no."

"That's a no."

She thought she knew what he was going to say and was all ready to refuse graciously. He surprised her though by not asking the question, instead treating it like a fait accompli. "You're staying," he said, holding out a hand to guide her into the dining room. 

"Oh I couldn't..."

He gave her a look, head tilted, lips pursed. "I made enough lasagna for a small town," he informed her. "Or at least me and Barry." He paused, either for emphasis or effect, she couldn't be sure. "Mostly Barry. Stay, have some of his share. It's his own fault for standing you up." She bit her lip, considering, and it didn't take her long to make up her mind - the lasagna really did smell that good. 

She hung up her coat and followed him in. "Red ok?" he asked, holding a bottle of wine over a glass. When she hesitated, he looked up and an almost comical look of surprise crossed his features. He recovered quickly, years of fatherhood and detective work playing dividends she guessed and she smiled inwardly as he turned his concentration back to the glasses, choosing to take the look as a good thing - after all, she'd been going for something different than the way she usually looked. 

"Just one," she said, acting like she hadn't noticed a thing. "Barry was supposed to be driving me home in my car, since alcohol doesn't affect him any more." She rolled her eyes as she accepted the glass from him. 

"You can have another," he told her, a twinkle in his eye. "Stay here til he gets home and get him to keep his promise."

Caitlin laughed, imagining the look on Barry's face of she did that - and of course, it was made funnier by the knowledge that Barry, being Barry, would actually drive her home. "You're assuming he'll come home," she countered and Joe genuinely looked as if that thought hadn't occurred to him. "What can I do to help?" 

Joe shook his head. "Oh no... just because my kid forgot his manners doesn't mean I don't know how to treat a guest." He pulled out a chair for her. "Sit... I'll be right out."

After pushing her chair in, he was true to his word, arriving back moments later with a steaming hot dish of lasagna that smelled even better close up. He hadn't been wrong about the size either, told her that it was one of two trays he'd cooked that day. "I wasn't kidding about feeding Barry," he said. "It's worse than when he was a teenager." He dished her up a portion and she dug in, finding it tasted even better than it smelled and she allowed Joe to give her a second helping, figuring that that was one more way Barry could make things up to her. 

The conversation flowed easily over dinner, talk about Barry and S.T.A.R. Labs, about Iris and Eddie, about his work and the most memorable cases he'd worked. She didn't notice the time passing, allowed him to pour her a second glass of wine, deciding Barry could indeed drive her home to further make things up to her. 

They were sitting at either end of the couch, Miles Davis playing quietly on the stereo as they talked, when Joe's cell phone chimed. He picked it up and glanced at the screen, pursed his lips as he tossed it on the coffee table. "Looks like we might be calling you a cab," he told her and when she frowned, he jutted his chin towards the phone. "I just got a 'don't wait up' text from Barry."

"Oh..." She let her eyes grow wide as she took a sip of wine. "Good for him," she said quietly and she meant it. 

Joe was eyeing her curiously, she realised. "I'm not sure I'd be so understanding if I'd been stood up," he said and she shook her head quickly, understanding exactly what he wasn't saying. 

"We're not like that," she told him. "I'm happy for him." He didn't say anything, just looked at her and she continued, "We've been going out lately because... I think after he told Iris..." She paused, suddenly unsure because she'd assumed Joe knew but had suddenly worried she was assuming too much. He didn't speak, just pursed his lips and waved his hand, an indication to carry on if she'd ever seen one. "Even though he's seeing Linda, he keeps on saying that we're in our twenties, it's Friday night, we should be out, meeting people..."

He nodded thoughtfully, his left thumb tracing the wedding ring he still wore on his left hand. "He's probably not wrong," he said and this time Caitlin didn't try to hide her smile. 

"I turned thirty two weeks ago," she told him and she knew she'd surprised him, was quite amused at how his eyes went wide, how his head tilted as if enquiring. "I didn't tell Barry," she explained. "With everything going on..." She paused, waiting for him to count back and nod. "I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

"Oh yeah." He raised his glass to his lips, took a gulp. "Turning thirty, that's rough..." She must have looked surprised because he followed that up with, "Try forty six, we'll see how you feel."

"It's not that," she said, sitting up and laying her glass of wine on the table as she tried to explain. "Just... a couple of years ago, I thought I knew what I'd be doing when I turned thirty. Brilliant career with Doctor Wells. I'd be married... maybe pregnant. First of two kids, a girl and a boy." Saying it like that, she knew how childish it sounded; she didn't care. "The first steps to my perfect life." She shrugged, looked over at him and saw a pair of sympathetic eyes staring back. "And I don't have any of that."

Joe was quiet for what seemed like a long time. "So maybe it's time to look for a new perfect," he said eventually and she found herself smiling. 

"You sound like Barry."

He didn't miss a beat, just grinned. "Maybe he sounds like me, you ever think of that?" She grinned back at him and there was a moment where they just sat and smiled at each other before he narrowed his eyes, stood up. "Give me a minute."

She looked after him, frowning because it wasn't in her nature to sit idly by when she was curious about something. She took a sip of her drink and she was just about to go and look for him when she heard his voice. Not talking though - singing. 

He was singing "Happy Birthday" and when he came back into the living room, he had a cupcake in his hand, a single candle flickering brightly in the middle of the frosting. 

Caitlin laughed, delighted, clapping her hands together and raising them to her lips. He sang the whole song, rather nicely she noted, before setting the cupcake down on the table in front of her. "Where did you get that?" she laughed after he finished and he shrugged, looked very pleased with himself. 

"I may have a secret stash that Barry and Iris don't know about." He gave her a suspicious look, but his dancing eyes gave him away. "You won't tell on me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." 

He gestured to the candle. "Go on... make a wish."

She looked at him a moment more before she closed her eyes, blew out the candle and made her wish. "Happy birthday, Caitlin," he said when she opened her eyes again and she laughed, on impulse leaning forward and hugging him. 

"Thank you," she said into his neck as his palms landed on her back. He held her for a moment then pulled back and again, acting on impulse, she went to kiss his creek, another thank you. 

Except he turned his head, maybe for the same reason, and their lips ended up touching. 

For the briefest of moments, she froze, felt him freeze too. 

Then he moved his head the tiniest bit, his lips sliding over hers and suddenly he was kissing her and she was kissing him back. Her arms slid around his neck as his tightened around her waist, pulling her closer and she didn't know how long they stayed there, just kissing, before she suddenly remembered where she was and who she was and who he was and she pulled away with a start. 

"Oh my God, Joe, I'm sorry..." She stood up, attempting to put some distance between them, feeling her cheeks flaming red. The urge to run, to escape, was overpowering and she looked around for her bag, her coat, wondering if the earth would be so kind as to literally open up and swallow her. She was barely aware that she was still babbling apologies and it was only when his hand closed over her wrist, when his touch made her skin tingle, that she fell silent. 

"Caitlin, stop." He turned her gently to face him and when she couldn't look at him, he put a finger under her chin, ever so gently tilting her head up. "Look... I don't know what you think you just did? But I'm pretty sure I kissed you too."

He sounded almost amused and when Caitlin frowned, trying to process his words, she was fairly sure she saw his lips twitch with something that looked like laughter. "You did?" she asked and he nodded with what was definitely a lip twitch. 

"I did."

"Oh. OK then." It wasn't the most eloquent thing she'd ever said but his finger was moving back and forth underneath her chin, sending tiny impulses of electricity down her spine. It was a long time since she'd been touched like that and she drew in a deep breath as his other hand moved to cup her cheek. Ever so slowly, as if in slow motion, the hand on her chin moved to mirror the other, so that he was holding her face in his hands and just as slowly he leaned in to kiss her again. Just as his lips were about to touch hers, she realised why he was moving so slowly, that he was giving her the chance to back off, to move away, to change her mind if that was what she wanted. 

That, more than anything, gave her the courage to lean towards him and meet him halfway. 

His lips curled up in a smile as they moved against hers and she was dimly aware of them sinking back on to the couch. She was, however, acutely aware of the feel of his hands on her body, one of his hands moving through her hair while the other one traced a path down her back. Just as with the kiss, he moved slowly, hesitantly, like he didn't want to push her any further than she was willing to go. Not that he had much to worry about, because by the time his lips were tracing a path down her neck, by the time his fingers had discovered that sensitive spot at the small of her back, she knew that she wanted this. 

Wanted him. 

No sooner had she come to that realisation than he pulled back slightly, resting his forehead against hers. He was breathing quickly, she noticed, just as she was, and his eyes were dark with a desire he couldn't keep hidden. "Caitlin..." he began but he stopped talking when she shifted slightly, felt him hard against her. His eyes fluttered shut and he let out a soft moan. 

"Joe..." She reached up, touched his cheek with her fingertips and whispered, "Don't stop."

The smile on his face sent shivers down her spine. 

When he took her hand and led her upstairs, he did more than that. 

*

When she woke up the next morning, it was to him propped up on one elbow looking down at her. A small smile played around his lips as he murmured, "Good morning," before leaning down to brush a kiss against her shoulder. His fingers replaced his lips, tracing an idle pattern and she felt a smile of her own forming. In spite of that, he still asked her, eyes darkening slightly, "You ok?"

She turned so that she was lying on her side, facing him. "Rarely better," she told him and he grinned. "You?"

Joe chuckled. "I don't know how else you expect me to be when I wake to a beautiful woman in my bed." She felt her cheeks grow warm at his words and when he moved closer to her, brought their lips together, there was no need to talk for a while. 

Much later, lying with her head against his chest, she knew their idyll was coming to an end when he reached over, grabbed his watch from the bedside cabinet. "What time is it?" she mumbled and he sighed when he answered her. 

"Almost ten," he said, then he chuckled. "I can't remember the last time I slept this late on a Saturday."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow. "Well, you weren't exactly sleeping..." she teased and he laughed out loud at that. "But you're right... we should get up."

Joe lifted an eyebrow. "You got anything to wear besides the little dress you had on last night? Not that I'm complaining, understand, but you're gonna look a bit overdressed if anyone comes in..."

"I actually have an overnight bag in my car," Caitlin admitted. The look that came over his face was a cross between surprised and preening and she shook her head hastily, the blush on her cheeks this time embarrassment. "Not like that... it's just you wouldn't believe how many times I've pulled an all-nighter at work... it's easier, not to mention more time efficient, to change there instead of going home, that's all."

"Workaholic," Joe muttered and she couldn't exactly argue with him. "I'll go get it for you." He got out of bed, dressed quickly and made his way downstairs. She watched him, committing every movement to memory and when he was gone, she flopped back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

She was still trying to process the events of the previous night when she heard her cell phone ringing. She vaguely recalled grabbing her bag on the way upstairs - she'd been going out with Barry hoping to meet someone after all, and while she wasn't exactly a do-it-on-the-first-night kind of girl, she was a be prepared kind of girl, and wasn't she grateful for that now. The early morning chill hit her as she moved and she reached down to pick up Joe's discarded shirt, pulled it on as she found her bag and extracted her phone. 

It was Barry's name on the caller display and she forced herself to keep her tone bright and breezy as she said, "Hey! Good night last night?"

"I'm so sorry, Caitlin," he said again and she rolled her eyes. 

"Barry, it's fine. I'm fine. How was your night?"

She could hear his grin on the other end of the phone. "It turned into a good morning," he said. "We're just finishing breakfast, then we're heading into the city, take a walk around, have lunch... we were wondering if you'd like to join us?"

"And be a third wheel?" She shook her head. "Thanks but no thanks."

"Caitlin-"

She heard the front door opening. "Barry, honestly, stop feeling guilty. Go and enjoy yourself. You deserve it."

There was the slightest of pauses. "You do too."

Caitlin smiled, dipped her head. "Thanks," she said. "Next time, first round's on you. And the second."

He chuckled. "Deal."

They said their goodbyes and she clicked the end call button just in time. Joe's eyes moved over her body as she stood up, taking in the unbuttoned shirt, the phone in her hand. "My shirt never looked so good," he informed her and she grinned. 

"That was Barry. He and Linda are heading into the city... he wanted to know if I'd meet them for lunch." He lifted two eyebrows. "I told him I didn't want to be a third wheel."

He nodded as he came towards her, dropping her overnight bag near the bed. "So you're saying..." he asked, reaching out one finger to trace the buttons of his shirt, reaching inside to trace over her skin, "that Barry won't be walking in on us any time soon?"

She shook her head. "Not for hours."

"Hmmm..." He looked thoughtful. "Whatever shall we do?"

She didn't answer him, just kissed him instead. 

By the time Barry did come home, much later in the afternoon, she was sitting at the dining room table with Joe, clad in a pale green sweater and black skinny jeans, a pair of black ballet flats on her feet. Her hair was mostly dry after her shower - their shower, she reminded herself with a hidden smile - and if it was still a bit damp in spots, she figured Barry wouldn't notice. 

"Don't tell me I forgot plans again," Barry quipped when he saw her there and Caitlin shook her head. 

"I came to pick up my car," she said and when Barry looked confused, Joe continued the cover story they'd agreed on. 

"Since you also didn't tell me you were going out and I made enough lasagna for an army, Caitlin stayed for dinner," he said and Barry chuckled before he got any further. 

"And Joe served you up some Grandma Esther sized glasses of wine," he guessed. Joe shrugged, all what can you do, because that was the very thing they'd agreed to say and Caitlin looked down into her mug of coffee, hoping Barry would take it as embarrassment. "Should I ask how your head is?"

"Surprisingly fine," Caitlin said, and that at least was no lie - she hadn't felt so relaxed in years. She laughed when Barry looked almost disappointed. "Just because alcohol doesn't affect you..." she muttered and he shrugged. 

"I'm going to have a shower," he said. "You sticking around for a while?"

Caitlin glanced at Joe, who nodded, then back to Barry. "Sure," she said and then Barry was gone in the blink of an eye and a blast of air. 

"You ok with this?" Joe's voice was quiet as he reached over, took her hand in his. "Not telling Barry about us?"

Turning her hand over Caitlin laced their fingers together. "It's for the best," she confirmed, because they'd talked about it, both having independently come to the same conclusion. "Until we know what this is..." They'd both lost people they loved before, after all, didn't want to risk alienating anyone if things didn't work out. 

Joe raised their joined hands to his lips, brushed a kiss over her knuckles. "Whatever it is," he said quietly, staring into her eyes, "it's good."

Caitlin couldn't speak suddenly, a surge of emotion rising up in her throat, choking any words she might have wanted to say. She settled for a smile and a squeeze of his hand and the smile he gave her back told her that her new perfect might not be as far away as she previously thought.


End file.
